St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-09


living stairs of peasants shoulders.
An English ship stopped at Pitcairn
island, and right in the midst of SUI
rounding cannibalism and squalor, tn
passengers discovered Christian colon
of churches, and schools, and beautiful
homes, and highest style of religion AM
civilization. For fifty years no mission
cry and no Christian influence had lande,
there. Why this oasis of light amid
desert of heathendom? Sixty wears be
fore ship had met disaster, and one O
the sailors, unable to save ANYTHING else
went to his trunk and took out a Bib,
which his mother had placed there an(
swan ashore, the Bible held in his teeth
The book was read on all sides until tn.
rough and vicious population were evan
geIZed, and church was started, and al
enlightened commonwealth esta blished
and the worlds history has no more
brilliant page than that which tells of the
transformation of a nation by one book
1t did not seem of much importance
whether the sailor continued to hold the
book in his teeth or let it fall in the
breakers, but upon what small circum-
stance depended what mighty results.
Practical inference: There are no in
thing is part of a magnitude Intinitv
is made up of intinitesimals; great
things an. aggregation of small things
Bethlehem manger pulling on star in
the eastern sky. One book in drenched
sailors mouth the evangelization of a
multitude. One boat of papyrus on the
Nile freighted with events for all ages.
The fate of Christendom in basket let
| down from window on the wall. What
you do, do we'll If you make rope
make it strong and true, for you know
not how much may depend on your work
manship. If you fashion boat let it be
waterproof, for you know not who NAV
sail in it. If you put Bible in the
trunk of your boy as he goes from home,
let 1t be heard in your prayers, for it NAV
have mission as far-reaching as the book
which the sailor carried in his teeth to
the Pitcairn beach. The plainest mans
life is an island between two eternities-
eternity past ripping against his shout
GERS, eternity to come touching his brow.
The casual, the accidental, that which
merely happened so, are parts of great
plan, and the rope that let's the fugitive
apostle from the Damascus wall is the
cable that holds to its mooring the ship
OF the church in the northeast storm of
the centuries.
Again, notice unrecognized and unre
corded services. Who spun that rope?
Who tied it to the basket? Who steadied
the lllustriOus preacher as he stepped
into its Who relaxed not a muscle of
the arm or dismissed an anxious look
from his face until the basket touched
the ground and discharged its magniti-
cent cargo? Not one of their names has
come to US, but there was no work done
that day in Damascus or in all the earth
compared with the Importance of their
work. What if they had in the agitation
tied knot that could slip? What if the
sound of the mob at the door had led
them to say: paul must take care of
himself, and we will take care of our
selves" No. no! They held the rope. |
and in doing 50 did more for the Chris.
tlan Church than any thousand of US will |
ever accomplish. But God knows and !
has made eternal record of their under
taking. And they know. How exultant
they must have felt when they read his
letters to the Romans, to the Corinthians,
to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to
the Philippians, to the Colossians, to the
Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus, to
Philemon, to the Hebrews, and when
they heard how he walked out of prison
with the earthquake unlocking the door
for him, and took command of the Alex
andrian corn ship when the sailors were
nearly scared to death, and preached a
sermon that nearly shook Felix off his
judgment seat l hear the men and wo-
men who helped him down through the
window and over the wall talking in pri-
7ate over the matter, and saying: How
glad am that we. effected that rescue
coming times Others may get the glory
u Paups work, but no one shall rob US
II the satisfaction of knowing that we
leld the rope"
Once for thirty-six hours we expected
very moment to 60 to the bottom of the
cean. The waves struck through the
kylghts and rushed down into the hold
t the ship and Kissed against the boilers,
t was an awful time; and BY the bless ..
ag of God and the faithfuiness of the :.
len in charge we came out of the cyclone ;
nd we arrived at home. Each one be- !.
're leaving the ship thanked Captain 9
,ndrews. I do not think there was :
ian or woman that went off that ship
ithout thanking Captain Andrews, and !
hen years after heard of his death I =
as impelled to write letter of condo y
nee to his family in Liverpool. Every y
ody recognized the goodness, the cour- :
Re, the kindness of Captain Andrews;
1t it occurs to me now that we never
anked the engineer. He stood way >
'wn in the darkness amid the kissing J
rnaces doing his whole duty. Nobody II
anked the engineer, but God recog- y
zed his heroism and his continuance and y
s fidelity, and there will be just as high p
ward for the engineer who worked out q q
sight as for the captain who stood on =. ~
9 bridge of the ship in the midst of the VI "
wiling tempest. -
There are said to be about sixty-nine &c &c
ousand ministers of religion in this 81 81
untry. About fifty thousand / war ~ ~
ut came from early homes which had ~
struggle for the necessaries of life. y,
e sons of rich bankers and merchants III
nerally become bankers and merchants. ;,
e most of those who become ministers b!
the sons of those who had terrific III
uggle to get their everyday bread. az
e collegiate and theological education ia
that son took every luxury from the m
rental table for eight years. The other OF
ldren were more scantily apparelled. 1r'
son at college every little while got or
bundle from home. In it were the or
ks that mother had knit, sitting I'D en-